Stories about people with scabies have been encountered since ancient times. Already in the twelfth century, a detailed description was made of the course of the disease by the doctor Avenzoar. But he failed to identify the pathogen. And until 1834, scabies was considered a humoral disease.
What is scabies and where can it be found
Scabies is primarily a skin disease. The cause of this disease is the scabies mite (female). The main source of infection is a sick person. It is enough to touch the infected area of the skin, and after a couple of days you will begin to itch.
The causative agent of scabies can live outside the body of a sick person for some time. For example, on personal hygiene items (towels, textile shawls), furniture and general items (public transport or night club chairs, fitness equipment in the fitness center). Upon contact of the skin of a healthy person with an infected object, infection occurs.
This disease affects all age categories. In addition, scabies is very contagious. Often come to be treated with the whole family, and sometimes even with neighbors.
Types and signs of "itch beauty"
Modern medicine divides this disease into several types.
Typical scabies. Streaks of tick ticks and small bubbles at the ends are clearly visible on the skin. Plus, the patient has unbearable itching. All these are signs of classic scabies. It occurs in 95% of cases.
Norwegian scabies. It is also called "cortical." It occurs mainly in people with reduced immunity. How does scabies of this species appear? The peculiarity is that there are no characteristic moves (stripes) and bubbles. All these elements are under the crusts.
"Scabies neat." This species has an erased clinical picture. This happens due to the combination of good immunity stability and frequent hygiene measures (changing underwear and bed linen several times a day, frequent hand washing, and so on).
Pseudo-scab. It is also called "cat scabies." This type of tick is often found in domestic animals. The main difference is the absence of moves in the patient’s skin.
Signs of scabies
How is typical scabies manifested? The main symptom of the disease is severe skin itching. Two reasons contribute to this:
1. Vital activity of female scabies mite. She moves in the epidermis and lays eggs there.
2. During a stay in human skin, the female releases toxic substances. In response, the body releases histamine. As a result, the desire to scratch becomes even stronger.
The main feature of itching with scabies is an increase in the evening and night.
The second is the location of the rash. Favorite places of the classical form of the disease on the human body are areas with thin skin.
Typical scabies on the arms and legs are often localized between the fingers, in the elbow and knee bends, inguinal region, in women under the breast.
The cortical form of the disease is more often located on the soles of the feet, hands, under the nails, in the armpits or buttocks.
In children, it is often localized in the scalp. You can see the moves laid by the tick only by carefully looking closely.
At night, the female tick is active, and therefore itching in the evening and night is intensified. That is why many treatment procedures are performed before bedtime. In addition, areas of affected skin are better visible, which facilitates the treatment process.
Unfortunately, a person does not develop immunity to this disease. After recovery, one should also be wary of a new meeting with this "beauty".
How to understand that this is scabies?
To establish a diagnosis, a simple visual examination and patient complaints are sufficient. The delivery of specific tests in most cases is not required.
The only caveat: if only the inguinal area is affected, it will be necessary to pass some tests. And all because a number of other sexually transmitted diseases have similar symptoms. For example, syphilis, inguinal lice and so on.
How to protect loved ones from a disease such as scabies
Treatment (the photo illustrates a typical scabies course) should be carried out in conjunction with preventive measures aimed at ensuring the safety of relatives and close patients. To do this, you must first isolate sick people. Change and process bedding, underwear and personal hygiene items. If possible, boil cloth. What is impossible to boil is to steam over. To process all surfaces with disinfectants with which the sick person was in contact. And by and large, everything that concerns the patient needs to be processed daily until full recovery and plus a couple of days after treatment.
For the prevention of infection in a healthy person, there is also a prescription in folk therapy. It is necessary to prepare a strong saline solution (60-90 grams of salt per glass of water). Moisten the skin with saline, without wiping, allow to dry. You can apply this method of prevention for at least 7 days.
It is possible to get rid of this infection only by external means. Traditional medicine is not against the treatment of folk remedies, if effective. In any case, it is better to always consult a doctor and only after proceeding with therapy.
Treatment methods
Everyone who has encountered the disease knows that scabies is very unpleasant. Treatment with folk remedies is carried out using pleasant baths, ointments and decoctions. They can be combined in various ways. The duration of the course depends on the degree of skin damage and ranges from 3 to 10 days.
Bathtubs should be hot. This is done so that the skin becomes softer, which allows better penetration of therapeutic agents. And also warm water calms an itch. It is recommended that after taking a bath wash with a hard washcloth. The causative agent of scabies is removed mechanically.
A bath in the treatment of scabies is enough to take for fifteen minutes. It is further recommended to apply ointments, herbal juices or decoctions to infected skin areas.
Healing baths
With a disease such as scabies, treatment with folk remedies should be consistent. First, purification, then the destruction of the pathogen.
Bath with salt and chamomile. You will need a lot of chamomile and even more salt for this procedure. A salt bath is prepared at the rate of 1 kg of salt per 10 liters of water. A decoction of chamomile is done in a ratio of 100 grams of grass per 1 liter of liquid. First you need to steam the skin. After the bath, you do not need to wipe yourself, let the salt soak in. Then wash the affected area with a decoction of chamomile, without rubbing, allow to dry. Take such a bath optimally before bedtime.
You can also apply salt treatments at night. Before going to bed, prepare two containers. One with water, the other with salt. After itching, moisten the skin with water first, and then rub it with salt. After a few minutes, the irritation will subside.
Herbal bath. You will need a string of grass, burial ground, celandine, elecampane, birch leaves, pine needles. 100 grams of any component individually or a combination of them (at your discretion) pour 1 liter of boiling water and keep on low heat for 15 minutes. Strain the broth and add to the hot bath. With severe itching, you can increase the concentration to five tablespoons per glass of water.
Juniper bath. Pour a hundred grams of berries and juniper branches with a bucket of hot water. Boil for a quarter of an hour. Next, the broth is filtered and added to the bath. You can also do rubbing the affected areas of the skin with a prepared decoction.
Bath with a decoction of soap dish. Pass one hundred grams of soap dish through a meat grinder to obtain a homogeneous mass. Then it is poured with one liter of boiling water and boiled over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Next, the broth is filtered and added to the bath. It gives a very good effect in combination with sulfuric ointment.
Scabies: treatment with folk remedies based on lard or natural fats
Natural medicinal ointments are the most effective. Thanks to the base (lard, oil, lanolin, petroleum jelly), a gradual and gentle softening of the skin occurs. Through the mild epidermis, medicinal substances easily reach the scabies mite.
Turpentine ointment. Mix turpentine and lard (butter can be used) in a ratio of 1: 2. Mix well until a homogeneous mass is obtained. It is rubbed into the skin as it is absorbed several times a day. This drug can be applied to the scalp.
Lavrushka ointment. To prepare this remedy for scabies, it is necessary to grind dry bay leaves. The resulting powder is mixed with butter or lard in a ratio of 2: 1. The resulting mass is heated in a water bath for 30 minutes. Apply to affected skin.
Ledum and hellebore ointment. To prepare this remedy, you need 150 grams of rosemary and 150 grams of white hellebore. Mix herbs with 0.5 kg of pork fat and put in the oven for 12 hours. You can warm in a water bath for 6 hours. When the ointment has cooled, you can use it. This product is applied to the skin twice a day.
Celandine ointment. You will need to grind celandine grass into a powder and mix with petroleum jelly or lanolin in a ratio of 1: 4.
Ointment from elecampane and wormwood. The leaves of elecampane and annual wormwood are mixed in a ratio of 1: 3. As a basis, you can take lard or butter (not salted). It is applied 2 times during the day.
Sulfur Ointment Treatment
This is the most effective remedy for scabies. To prepare the ointment, you will need sulfur powder and lard. The latter is used as a basis. You need to mix in the following proportion: one part of the powder and three parts of lard.
Treatment of scabies with sulfuric ointment is carried out two or three times during the day. Apply the medicine to clean skin.
Ointment from sulfur and tar. This tool is applied once, and it can not be washed off during the day. It is necessary to combine one tablespoon of melted fat and the same amount of laundry soap, grated, with two teaspoons of sulfur powder and 1 spoon of birch tar. All this must be mixed to obtain a homogeneous mass.
A few more helpers in the fight against itchy infection
With a disease such as scabies, treatment with folk remedies allows the use of juices and pulps prepared from herbs. They have a good therapeutic effect in the fight against the disease. By effectiveness, these remedies for scabies are not inferior to the above.
Celandine. The juice and gruel from the leaves of this plant are applied to the lesions of the skin several times a day. You can mix celandine milk with cream.
Fumitory. Leave the leaves and grass of the plant through a meat grinder. Squeeze the juice. It must be applied twice or three times during the day. In severe forms, this tool has an excellent effect.
Pure tar treatment in its pure form has an excellent damaging effect on the itch mite and remarkably relieves itching. Apply it to the skin and do not wash off during the day. After the bath you need to re-apply tar to the affected areas.
Well-salted bread kvass will relieve itching. It is convenient to make baths for hands, and the temperature of the liquid should be as high as possible.
Laundry soap . This is the safest remedy for children. First you need to grind the soap, you can do this simply with a knife or rub on a grater. Then beat in a thick foam and apply to affected areas of the skin.
Of course, the disease is unpleasant - scabies. Alternative treatment in most cases will help you get rid of it. After all, its effectiveness is time-tested.